The 56th AGM of the IMWS was held at the Al-Hikmah Centre in February and saw a vibrant exchange of ideas in a pleasant and inviting gathering.
The meeting was opened with a recitation and talk by Moulana Suleman Makda who commented on how he, over his three years as an elected member, had witnessed first hand how the committees are continuously striving for the betterment of the whole community.
Aziz Daji, who was stepping down as the chair after completing three years at the helm, in his address spoke of his time as the Chair of IMWS and congratulated the hard work of all the volunteers at the Center. Preceding the AGM was an SGM to further advance the transformation of IMWS from a Charity to a CIO (Charities Incorporated Organisation). In an earlier SGM, held last year, the decision to become a CIO had already been approved. However, some changes to the constitution were needed to progress further. Having received the support from the members, the transformation into a CIO is expected to be completed within 3 to 6 months.
Five members were selected on the night to join the Elected Members Committee, and former vice-chair, Mohamed Mulla, received the support of the members to become the Chair of IMWS.
The new chair told Paigaam, “I am very honoured and privileged to have been chosen as the next Chair of the Society. It is a difficult and challenging task to follow in the footsteps of the members who served as the chairs but I will do my best to justify my appointment. I hope that I will get the co-operation and support of all the members, the elected members and the staff as we have got a massive job to do in the time to come.” He thanked all the members for putting their trust in him.
Concerns from the floor centred on working more with young people, and members were encouraged to put themselves forward to be part of a planning group in order to structure a long term vision of safeguarding the youth.
Mohamed further added “ We have got a mammoth tasks ahead of us, for example addressing the needs of women from our community, young people issues, educational issues to name a few. In addition to the elected members, area representatives and co-opted members anyone can get involved. This is your IMWS and I believe that each member has something to contribute towards the work of the Society. Even if the general members are not on any committee they are more than welcomed to get involved in the Society.
At the end of the meeting members voiced their delight at a meeting held in a good and well mannered arena. Batley East Councillor and IMWS member, Hanif Mayet, remarked on the IMWS Facebook page, “in my opinion this was the best meeting we had, everybody was well behaved and had opportunity to express their views and to be heard.”
Ahmed Variava, Baser Akoodie and Safwan Ahmed Patel all join the elected members for three years whilst Ilyas Norat was re-appointed to join the Elected for the next two years.
Members who wish to make any suggestions or ask any question can now contact the IMWS Chair directly at:
[email protected] and are asked to refrain from contacting via the info and centre managers email addresses in order to speed up the process.
If you would like to volunteer to help with the events and join the sub-committees you can do so by emailing:
[email protected] with ‘volunteering’ in the subject field.
